


The Watcher (Chrobin Week Day 04)

by LORBEERPRINZ



Series: Chrobin Week 2016 [3]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Chrobin Week, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-05
Updated: 2016-11-05
Packaged: 2018-08-29 06:42:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8479195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LORBEERPRINZ/pseuds/LORBEERPRINZ
Summary: One afternoon, Robin decides to explore the vasts of Castle Yllistol and finds a face of someone she has never see before, but who left his traces everywhere around her. (Chrobin Week Day 4: Myth)





	

“Wow, it’s huge…”  
Robin had seen a lot of things of Castle Ylisstol already, probably more than most people would ever get to see, but this place was new. With every day she lived here, invited by Chrom, more places opened up and new discoveries waited around every corner. While she never forgot about her work, she spent every minute of her free time wandering the sheer endless corridors of the palace, met people, read books, marveled at the beautiful architecture and interior. Everything was just as impressive as one would imagine the home of a country’s ruler to be.  
She had never seen anything like this before. Or had she? Who knew.

 

On a cold afternoon, Robin had decided to follow one floor she had not quite explored yet; Lissa had once told her to come here if she wanted to get cozy. The Tactician felt a little nervous at first, since these were obviously the private quarters of the royal family and she felt she had no right to be here, despite her relationship to the current master of the place.  
What she had found at the end of this floor was a huge room full of books that seemed older than anyone living here combined. A fireplace and luxurious chairs, a big desk, a globe that appeared to be made of marble, colorful rugs and tapestry – no matter where Robin looked, she was greeted with both luxury and comfort.

 

But what caught her attention the most was a giant painting resting on the wall above the fireplace.  
Robin carefully opened the curtains a little to let more light in, all the while trying to make as little noise as possible. For some reason, the one portrayed on the painting seemed to look at her, the painting was so detailed and marvelous she felt like it was alive.  
She took a better look.  
The man on the painting was decked in beautiful robes and fur, a golden crown resting on his blue haired head. No, as Robin looked closer, it didn’t appear to be a crown. It was more like a tiara, and she was sure she had seen a similar one on a similar head before.  He stood proud, his face full of dignity, yet at the same time his blue eyes shone with kindness. A sword rested by his side with a gem glittering at the top of the hilt, just barely visible from under the hand that lay on it.  
There was no mistake, this was the legendary Hero-King everyone in this country was talking about. Chrom’s ancestor.

 

Robin stared at the painting for some longer and with every minute it seemed to become more and more alive. The level of detail was just astounding, but of course a great hero like him would only be painted by the most talented of artists.  
“You’re indeed an amazing man, I can see that”, she whispered.  
And of course, she could not ignore the footsteps behind her.  
A strong hand came to rest on her shoulder. She took it.

 

“Do I have to be worried to get my place stolen by a picture?”  
The young woman laughed, turned around to face the one who had come to visit her in his currently quite rare free time. She was sorry he had been thrown into reigning over a whole country so suddenly, and with such a sacrifice, but time and again he would tell her he was okay. He had to go on. They all had to go on.  
“Never”, she whispered at Chrom.

 

She looked at the painting again and with every moment, she found more and more details to feast her eyes upon. Maybe the picture was more idealized and hyper realistic than what the great Hero-King had actually looked like during his lifetime, Robin thought after a while, but it was a beautiful painting nonetheless.  
Chrom wrapped his arms around her from behind, crowning the warm embrace with a light kiss on the top of her head. Together, they stayed like this for some more time. Lissa had been right, this place was cozy indeed.  
Lastly, Robin felt Chrom’s arms leave her and she watched as went over and lit the fireplace.

 

“You know”, he started while arranging the wood before lighting it, “I’ve looked at this painting so often I think I’ve seen it more than my own father.”  
He laughed and gestured for Robin to choose one of the chairs to sit down. She did as he asked, the velvet of the chair feeling used, but still soft and comfortable. She would surely come back here from time to time to sit by the fire and maybe read some of the books that with their leather binding and golden letters just begged to be read by her. Maybe they would contain more of the history of this Halidom, which was still so foreign to her despite all the people’s welcoming arms.

 

“Well, he _is_ related to you, if I’m not mistaken. I mean… that’s Marth, isn’t he?”  
Chrom nodded and sat down in the other chair next but slightly opposite to her. The Tactician used this moment to look back and forth between Chrom’s face and Marth’s painted one, but while they shared a few superficial features, such as hair and eye color, they didn’t seem to have many similarities otherwise. Then again, Marth had lived such a long time ago.  
But the impressions the two men gave off were very different from each other.

 

“I read a few things about him in history books and essays”, Robin said after another moment of comfortable silence, “but I suppose you also know stories about him? He’s your ancestor, after all.”  
Again, Chrom nodded, resting his head on one hand as he looked at the painting, then sighed and leaned back.  
“To be honest, it’s not that much more than what historians wrote about him, and I can’t even tell if all these stories are true or if some things are just made up like legends. They say he knew Naga’s daughter, but my father always thought this was impossible, humans and dragons being close like this. Or that he slew entire armies all by himself, just with Falchion’s power – I can tell you first hand that _that’s_ definitely impossible.”  
They laughed together and Robin noticed the glance of nostalgia in Chrom’s eyes as he was talking about the legends surrounding Marth.

 

“You must have liked hearing these stories from your father, right…?”  
“Well”, Chrom began, scratching his cheek a little in slight embarrassment, “I guess, though he didn’t do that often. But I was a child, it didn’t really matter who told me them as long as I could hear it all. Every little boy loves adventurous tales of heroic princes going to war and fighting for freedom, right? Back then I found it all quite amazing, and when I became older, I realized that not all of what was said might be true, but it was kind of inspiring nonetheless. I guess… it’s partially because of these legends I heard all my life that I wanted to do my best to help people too.”  
So in the end she had to thank Marth for being here, Robin thought to herself.

 

She sighed and buried herself deeper into the chair, feeling the heat of the fire spreading through the room. It was very nice to just sit there and talk for a while, they hardly had had any time for that out in the fields, and even now and here both of them were caught in so much work that they didn’t see each other for very long often.  
Robin knew this would slow down again after a while, it was just now that Chrom was expected to clean up the leftovers of his war against Plegia. But she still silently wished to spend more time with the man she would be marrying soon, often trying to hide this for the sake of the greater good of Ylisse. For the time being, she had resolved to cherishing the moments together with him more intensively.

 

After a while of silent bliss, Chrom got up again, stretched and yawned. It was time to get back to work. He squeezed Robin’s hand firmly, but briefly as he passed her on his way towards the door and back to his office. Paperwork wasn’t his favourite kind of work, Robin knew, but it had to be done.  
Before he left, Chrom paused again and turned back for one last glance towards Marth. He smiled proudly.  
“But you know, Robin… it’s not like everything that’s been said about him is false. Not only do we have Falchion, every single one of us being here is proof of his efforts. All those past centuries wouldn’t have existed without him. We’re alive because he fought for us.”

 

For a moment, Robin wondered if Chrom didn’t take it a little too far; Marth had lived so long ago that a lot of other things had already factored into whether anyone right now was alive or not. But at the same time, she began to understand why everyone still talked about this person, why this young woman they had encountered during the campaign against Plegia had disguised herself as him.  
It wasn’t just that he was part of the country’s most powerful bloodline. It wasn’t just that he had fought wars to gain freedom. He had gathered people that had had nothing to do with each other beforehand and had managed to become comrades with them against all odds. He had inspired people to stand up and fight for what was important to them.

 

He was a symbol of hope.  
And whatever the girl dressing as him had to carry on her shoulders, whatever her real reason to fight was, she was surely believing in the Hero-King’s strength and the hope and inspiration he had brought. Robin had never known Chrom was thinking this way too, and suddenly the two of them, the masked swordfighter and the Ylissean Prince, seemed quite alike.  
She smiled back at Chrom as she saw him off.

 

When he was gone, Robin decided to rest for another moment and then she would look for more material on the Hero-King and the wars he had fought, wanting to understand the phenomenon.  
She also wished that one day, she would see that mysterious woman again and they could talk about her hopes together.


End file.
